This week brought an interesting mix of work for me. It very much felt like a mix of everything I do. It had the ups and downs, the difficulties and the really great moments as well.
We’ll start with the difficult and bad news and work up to the great news.
First, I have a guest on my caseload who has, we think, some sort of mental illness. Definitely a bunch of anxiety, but something much deeper than that as well. I got her to see a nurse for a while, but she refused to see a doctor so she couldn’t become a registered patient at this clinic. Due to continued conflicts around LPCS we told her see a doctor or you need to leave (the decision on this was much more of a complicated process than I am making it sound). She flatly refused so we are on the “if you can handle it, show us” path now. Next conflict and she will likely be dismissed. It is hard, because she is a very motivated woman. She has had a lot happen in her life in the past year or so and is very upset about her present situation. She applies for more jobs than anyone at our shelter. However, she lacks a lot of skills that make her ready for work (communication skills for one). It is difficult to watch, knowing we have some resources that could help her succeed but she refuses to listen to me. Last week she told me I was the only person that didn’t “put her through the meat grinder” when she came her, but now I have “turned on her too”. It’s hard to hear that when you are trying to help!
Second, in the midst of all of this and the upcoming good news, I had a client call me who was not doing so well. She recently moved to Chicago and due to this move is disconnected from a doctor that can give her medication. She suffers from PTSD, so this is pretty critical for her. She hasn’t actually come in to see me yet, but has an intake appointment this week, so I guess that is why I got the call. At first I thought, this was ok, she’ll come in, I’ll refer her to some counseling services and she can get back on her meds. However, this timeline is probably a week at best, if not two or more. Later that day I got a call from her saying she was feeling more anxious and extremely depressed and didn’t know what to do. I called some places and called her back, unfortunately I was unable to refer her since she wasn’t with me, but she could call them. Before I could call her back I got a call from the suicide hotline. She had called them with thoughts of suicide, but no concrete plan and had been routed to a call center in GA. They called me to verify she had an appointment. However, I had to explain I was not a doctor and that I was trying to help her get connected to one. Together we got her some local suicide hotline numbers and hospital numbers and addresses. I called the woman back later and she now reported feeling extremely alone, feeling unable to get out of bed. At our last call she was reporting physical symptoms including chest pain and shortness of breath. She had a doctors appointment to see a general practitioner, so hopefully she got connected to what she needed. I gave her more numbers and she assured me she would call them. I need to call her back today and check in. The whole process of this though was a bit overwhelming. I am not at all trained to deal with this. Thankfully I have learned some of the questions to ask and know of more resources so I was able to help some. However, the weight of it all is pretty heavy. It’s difficult not to think “what if I said something wrong? what if I didn’t say enough?” and think of the worst. But hopefully she is doing ok and has found what she needs.
At work we are also about to try a new model of programming around here. The stages model! We’ll be piloting the program this May. Guests will either be in the orientation stage, goal-setting stage, achievement stage, or the transition stage. We have chosen 8 current guests plus our two new guests to test this program. The plan is full implementation in July or August. We’ll see how it goes. An additional comment – I have 8/35 guests on my case load, but I ended up with 5 of the 10 on the pilot program. Now what are the statistical odds of that…. 
And the GOOD NEWS! One of the guests on my caseload found housing (and another might hear about some this week!). It is the first guest on my caseload to become a graduate of our programs and I am thrilled. He moved into an apartment on 4/30. On May 1, I got a message from him that was really nice. He said that he didn’t think it would have come through as quickly without my calls and that he appreciated me standing by him when he knew he was on thin ice at LPCS (he almost got kicked out the week earlier for not doing all program requirements). He didn’t need to call and leave that message, and I think a lot of his work with housing was his own doing, however, it is nice to hear a thank you. It all made my week. I know it’s not the housing he necessarily hoped for, but as he said, it’s a start and from there it will just get better. I’m pretty proud of him for it, and thrilled that in my time here I have had a graduate!
The only other update in my life is that I completed a four mile run yesterday. The run was called C4 Miles and was a benefit for the Community Counseling Centers of Chicago. They do great work and on a sliding scale down to zero, so they dont’ reject anyone! They have counselors to deal with mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence, etc. and I have heard great things about the people that work there. They doubled their registration numbers from last year too! And despite how out of shape I was, I successfully ran faster than I thought (not fast, but good enough), my knees and lungs held up, and I didn’t walk or anything. It’s been a long time (years?) since I have run 4 miles. So it felt great. For a good cause, and running along the lakefront on a gorgeous spring morning - amazing way to start a day.
That’s about all for me. Other than I also figured out my classes for the fall at GW! I am taking: Research Methods in Policy Analysis, Urban Sociology, and Approaches to Policy Analysis. I’ll also be sitting in on the first half of the first methods/stats course that is required at GW. I get to bypass it mostly due to my stats background. Sweet.
Back to work! Have a great week!
